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Longmont Telecom Issue: 2A looks like it will pass

Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
11/01/2011 05:27:43 PM MDT

Updated:
11/01/2011 10:46:35 PM MDT

Substation technician Kevin Stenson works in the Longmont Power and Communications network operations center, which relys on the city's fiber-optic loop that was installed in 1997 . If voters give their OK, the city will be able to use this fiber-optic loop to provide services for residents and businesses.
(
RICHARD M. HACKETT
)

Longmont Question 2A

Yes 60.8%

No 39.2%

LONGMONT -- Light that fiber.

Longmont's Ballot Question 2A cruised to victory Tuesday night, carrying about 60 percent of the vote for most of the night. The vote lifts state restrictions on the city's use of its 17-mile-long fiber-optic loop, allowing it to offer services to residents and businesses either directly or through a partner.

"I'm glad to see 2A won," said Mayor Bryan Baum, one of the most vocal advocates for the issue. "I think it shows that money isn't the determinator."

"Goliath goes down hard and David wins the day!" cheered Vince Jordan, owner of RidgeviewTel and another 2A supporter. The anti-2A group Look Before We Leap spent close to $300,000 fighting the issue as of Oct. 23. According to city clerk records, the group's biggest contributor was the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association, an industry group which had recorded $175,000 of contributions to Look Before We Leap in the same time frame.

George Merritt, a spokesman for Look Before We Leap, said he felt the community had received a message to move carefully on developing municipal telecommunications.

"While we remain concerned about the disappointing track record of municipal telecoms, we hope our city has learned from the mistakes made by other cities and that taxpayers are protected with whatever venture develops as a result of the passage of Question 2A," Merritt said. "Our goal from the beginning of this campaign was to ensure that voters understood the risks before the city jumped into the competitive telecommunications business. Our neighbors took a good, hard look at 2A and the measure's narrow margin of victory shows that as we move forward, we need to do it carefully and together, as partners in the community, so that strong support develops for whatever plan the city puts into place."

The city built its 17-mile fiber-optic loop in 1997. The $1.1 million cost was paid for by the Platte River Power Authority. But about two-thirds of it has remained "dark" -- unused -- thanks to a 2005 state law that barred the city from providing retail access to the loop, either directly or through a private partner.

As a result, the system's only been open to those able to lease fiber individually, including public agencies and a few large institutions such as Longmont United Hospital.

Through much of the campaign, opponents accused the city of having no plan as it jumped into the "risky" telecommunications business, frequently citing a 2006 case study by University of Denver professor Ron Rizzuto. The Rizzuto study examined 52 municipal telecommunications systems, finding that 80 percent of them had failed to make money.

The measure's supporters said the question would allow the city to use its own infrastructure as it saw fit, that it would allow better service and that any plans for use of the fiber-optic loop would end up before the City Council for review. There were hopes that freeing the loop would allow the city to attract large companies such as Google, which included Longmont as a finalist for its high-speed broadband project. The project ultimately went to Kansas City, Kan.

This is the second time the question has come before Longmont voters. In 2009, the question failed with 56 percent of the vote. That race was also an expensive one, with opponents spending $245,000 to defeat the measure, again including the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association among the contributors. Question 2A received unanimous support from all the council candidates, a rare gesture of solidarity in the race.

"They didn't agree on much of anything, but they all agreed this should pass," said Ward 3 challenger Bonnie Finley, who was leading in her own race against Councilman Sean McCoy.

Jonathan Rice, who maintained the Longmont's Future website supporting the measure, was pleased at the passage.

"I see the citizens of Longmont decided they were more interested in progress than profits," he said.

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